


Dance For Me

by R_S



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-12 23:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2129313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_S/pseuds/R_S
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On an island in the Great Sea, where swordsmen dance with the wind – and the rivers – and the mountains on high, the blades of severed souls cried at night, because they felt so alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance For Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fiction being offered for others to see. Be gentle with me - though I am an author of the world, and am not easily offended. I do not own One Piece, and all credit belongs to the brilliant Eiichiro Oda.

Some hours, maybe minutes after leaving Alabasta – enough time for Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, Usopp and Nami to really start to miss Vivi, (Zoro misses her too, but knows she’ll be much happier being in her own country as a princess then at sea as a pirate) the sea tosses around Merry’s hull, gently rocking the creaking ship, when the door to the store room opens, and she walks out. 

Ms. All Sunday. Tall, tan, lean, jet black hair with just a faint hint of violet to her equally dark eyes – long slender hands that wrap around her chin delicately as she sits on the steps, legs crossed, to observe the Strawhat Pirates in all their glory. 

What a sight that was. Chopper yelping and running in circles, Usopp shouting about intruders on board, Nami just shrieking because she’s so exhausted and nerve frazzled at having just said farewell to Vivi, and of course the damn love-cook who immediately and obviously noodles and inquires who such a beautiful woman is… well, he would, he never did meet her before. Zoro and Luffy, oddly, are the most indifferent of the whole crew. Zoro’s eyes, as green as his hair, narrow suspiciously, looking for weaknesses and openings. Luffy, however, has had the most contact of any one in his nakama with the raven haired woman, and just stares at her, his brown eyes somber but without any obvious trace of annoyance. Seeing (as well as sensing) his captain’s reservation, Zoro – whose hands have already grasped the hilts of both Wado and Yubashiri, relax before the blades are drawn, and he stands patiently a pace behind his captain.

“Take responsibility.” The woman tells Luffy. “Sencho.” 

Zoro can’t understand what she wants Luffy to take responsibility for, and doesn’t like her even thinking his captain owes her anything. His hands ball up into fists as she stands, continuing to explain that it’s Luffy’s fault for her being there, and that he put her though some excruciating treatment. At which Love-Cook comes flying over the railing to shake the rubber man and demand to know what it was he did to her. 

Zoro sighs. 

“I don’t get it?” Luffy whines, looking back at the woman. “What do you want me to do?” 

“Let me say aboard your ship.” She tells him. 

Zoro swallows hard, and his blood runs cold. 

“I have nowhere else to go, or a home to return to, so let me join your nakama on your ship, Monkey D Luffy.” 

He doesn’t like it, he doesn’t like the way this dark woman wraps her tongue around Luffy’s name. How she stands so relaxed and confident on their ship, how she stares with those deep eyes at his captain… It’s not okay, none of it –

“Oh, is that all.” Luffy says, “Okay, that’s fine.” 

“Luffy!” Everyone echoes at once – everyone except Zoro. He’s dumbfounded, speechless. He’s pretty sure the bottom has just fallen out of his stomach and been replaced with a bucket of ice. 

“It’s okay!” he hears the ridiculously cheerful voice of his captain ringing in his ears. “She’s not a bad person.” 

XXX

Over the next few hours Usopp manages to interview their newest nakama in a rather formal way, which at the very least takes the some of the mystery out of the former second-to-top-member of the sadistic criminal organization that they’ve just gone through hell to overthrow. They learn her name at least. Nico Robin. She’s a devil fruit user, which Zoro had guessed, but not really confirmed for himself. He’s confirmed it now, though. She’s not shy with her ability – the Hana Hana no Mi. She’s able to ‘bloom’ any body part she likes onto another surface or person. As long as she can see where she is going to ‘bloom’ she can do it. The woman’s been playing with Chopper and Luffy with it for a while, growing arms out of the deck, and one particular move where two hands blossomed out of Luffy’s straw hat allowing him to look just like chopper. The move however, means touching not just Luffy, however indirectly, but his straw hat – and it pisses Zoro off. 

“I became Wanted by the World Government at the age of eight, with a bounty of seventy-nine million beli.” She told Usopp. 

That’s the highest on the ship. Zoro thinks wildly. Kitetsu rattles at his side, reacting to Zoro’s dark thoughts, and he clasps a hand over his hilt. He’s still not had enough time to work with the cursed blade Sandai Kitetsu, residing in his red scabbard at the swordsman’s hip – the vicious steel that he’d acquired in Logue Town before they entered the Grand Line. He senses Zoro’s mistrust of the woman, and is certainly willing to spill her blood, especially if he thinks his master won’t mind. 

“Quiet.” Zoro growls. Nami looks over at him, unsure who he’s talking to, but she doesn’t have a chance to ask, because the swordsman – still clutching his cursed sword – turns on his heal to retreat to the stern of the ship. 

 

“You’ve been alone all this time, twenty years?” Usopp is saying to Nico Robin. 

“A girl cannot survive on the Grand Line all on her own. I worked for several villainous characters, as a way of protecting myself.” 

“And would you say that Crocodile was one of those villainous characters?” 

“Of course.” 

Nami watches the dark woman’s body language. From her years as a thief she became very adept to notice nervous ticks, subtle eye movements, anything that gave away that a person was lying. But though she doesn’t trust the woman, and hates her for the role she played inciting the rebellion in Alabasta, she cannot see that she is actually lying. She’s… telling the truth. 

“I don’t trust you!” Nami announces abruptly, her heal clicking as she puts one foot up against the storeroom wall. “You were our enemy up until a few days ago.” 

The dark haired woman watched Nami with an ire of mild fascination. The entire Strawhat crew was so young. She realized then that she was more than ten years older than the red headed navigator bristling at her. 

“Put one toe out of line, and I’ll throw you off this ship myself.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Nico Robin says, smiling as she pulls a bag from her pocket. “By the way, I brought some of Crocodile’s jewels with me. I thought they might be useful for procuring provisions.” 

Nami’s ire melted at the sight of the precious stones that tumbled from the bag, and even Usopp laughed as she threw her arms around their new nakama and proclaimed her a sister. Luffy’s familiar exclamations of glee carried to the stern of the ship behind Nami’s mikan grove where Zoro’s settled himself, listening to his crew. The whole ship is gearing for a long voyage, and the first real breathing time they’ve had since departing Whiskey Peak some three months ago. They are free of any pressing obligations, riding the waves of adventure… Nobody is actively chasing them… so why does he feel so tense? Listening, and nervously waiting for something to happen. Is it because of that woman? 

What the hell, Sencho! Zoro admonishes his captain inside his head. Why can’t you be a little more cautious! 

XXX

Four days later, Zoro is alone on the wide platform at the stern of the ship. Sweat drips from his elbows and down his bare chest. Weights already cast aside, he had spent two hours lifting, and now he’s five forms into his morning kata, taking his time to let each stroke sink into its respective muscle group as Wado Ichimonji whispers with him about the importance of grace and patience. Wado, the white sword who speaks to him with Kuina’s long gone voice.

“It’s beautiful.” 

Zoro freezes mid stroke, his shoulders tensing. “What do you want?” 

There is a slight pause before the dark woman speaks. “Cook-san has finished making breakfast and wanted to know if you were hungry. I volunteered to come and tell you.” 

“Why?” 

Nico Robin didn’t answer, and after some moments Zoro lowered his sword. Sheathing Wado he drew a towel around his neck. She watched him stare out over the water, glittering under the orange-rose of dawn. There were a few clouds, white and fluffy along the horizon, and the air blowing across the ship carried the salty-clean scent of the sea on it. When the swordsman turned to head in for breakfast he was a little surprised to see the dark woman still standing there. Usually the crew left him alone after they had delivered their messages and he’d stopped talking. But she hadn’t moved, and just… watched him. 

“What are you after?” he asks her. “On this ship, with Luffy?” 

Nico Robin chuckled. “He’s a strange man, Monkey D Luffy.” She says. And again she says his name with that slow sound that makes Zoro angry. “The will of D.” 

“What’s that?” 

“Just a legend.” She says, staring across the water. “I like legends, old things… I am an archeologist, after all.” 

“I thought you were an assassin.” Zoro growled. 

“I am that too.” 

The seagulls cried overhead, and the Straw Hat Jolly Roger flapped, the sails full of wind as Merry cut through the waves. Nico Robin bowed her head to the swordsman and returned to the dining hall, and he followed after. Luffy was halfway through his eggs and ham when Zoro closed the door and exchanged his usual malevolent morning greeting with Sanji. The rubber man shifted over for Zoro to sit down next to him on the bench seat, eyeing him with his cheeks bulging. Zoro pulled his plate towards him, one arm protecting its contents from Luffy’s notorious ‘underarm grip’. Usopp was on Luffy’s other side, Chopper at the end of the table, across was Nami and Nico Robin, Sanji would sit on the other end when he’d finished cleaning up. Merry’s dining room had seemed cramped with five, and now that there were seven nakama it was becoming quite cozy, and they kept brushing elbows. At least their newest crew member would be bunking with Nami instead of them having to add another hammock to the boys’ quarters. 

“Oi.” Sanji was waving a fork in Zoro’s face, and the swordsman blinked. 

“What?” When the swordsman looked around he saw that everyone was staring at him.

“We were asking you if you wanted to take watch tonight, or if you wanted to sleep?” Nami asked him, concern dripping from her every syllable. “Are you alright? You’re still recovering from some pretty sever wounds.” 

Zoro stuffed a whole egg into his mouth, washing it down with some water. “I’m fine, and sure, I’ll take first watch – second too, if you like.” 

Luffy’s eyes narrowed as he watched a vein throb over his swordsman’s right eye. “Zoro isn’t sleeping enough.” He said flatly. Nami looked between them. 

Zoro was painfully aware of the dark woman’s eyes, everyone’s eyes really, staring at him and his captain. “I’m sleeping fine, Sencho.” The rubber man looked like he wanted to shout at Zoro, but instead he extracted himself from the table and went out onto the deck. It wasn’t until the green haired swordsman looked down at Luffy’s abandoned plate that he realized that his captain hadn’t finished his meal. Sanji had noticed, and Nami. When Usopp saw, he gulped audibly. “Shit!” Zoro threw his legs over the bench and hurried out the door, letting it swing closed with a sharp click. 

Nami let out a long breath. 

“Shitty bastard.” Sanji muttered, spearing a bit of ham with his fork.

“Excuse me.” Robin said, “But… am I missing something?” 

Nami put down her fork, subconsciously folding a napkin over and over in her lap. “Zoro and Luffy…” she said, “They’re… pretty close.” 

“Close?” Robin asks. 

“Really close.” Usopp tells their new nakama, a bit of egg at the end of his fork. “Like I-know-you’re-hurting-and-I’ll-hurt-right-along-with-you-until-you-freakin-talk-to-me close.” Chopper nods vigorously at the sniper’s words.

Sanji snorts, “More like you-better-talk-to-me-or-I’ll-beat-the-crap-out-of-you close.”

“You’re both not quite there.” Nami says, “More like I-know-exactly-what-and-how-you-think-so-don’t-lie-to-me close.” She casts a worried eye towards the door. “Anyway, let’s make this a long meal. Ne, Sanji-kun?” 

The cook smiles gently. “As you wish, Nami-swan.” 

XXX

At Merry’s stern, Luffy had his foot wedged in the railing, arms fold as he looked out over the sea. Zoro’s heavy weights are piled about haphazardly on the deck behind the rubber man, along with bits of bandages (some with blood on them) that his swordsman’s torn off, and half used powder balls and fluttering rice paper are visible inside the open katana maintenance kit half hidden under a discarded white shirt. The blatant disregard for Zoro’s meager possessions is worrisome enough for the Straw Hat captain. Add in the two sake bottles standing next to the stairs leading up to Nami’s mikan trees, both unopened, and Luffy knows Sanji only gives Zoro one bottle of sake per night these days, well… Luffy isn’t as stupid as some people think he is. 

“Sencho.” Zoro came around the corner, his toe brushing against one of his larger weights. 

Luffy turned, elbows hooked in the railing. “What the hell, Zoro?” he said, nodding at the mess surrounding them. 

Zoro looked, and honestly was a little shocked. He’d never been the cleanest or most organized member of the crew, but… He ran a hand through his green hair. 

His captain watched him carefully, brown eyes taking in his sweat-soaked shirt under the green hamaraki. There was new blood on his arm, because he probably reopened a wound sometime between getting up to train and breakfast. It was his eyes that bothered Luffy the most, however. He wasn’t just spouting off garbage at the table. He knew Zoro hadn’t slept properly for a few days. The only thing he could think that was different was the arrival of Nico Robin, but Zoro hadn’t mentioned anything to him. He didn’t like that, he didn’t like this Zoro that was distant and cold and untouchable to him. 

“I’m not letting Zoro just drift away from me.” Luffy muttered, lowering his face so that his straw hat hid his eyes. 

“What are you talking about?” Zoro asked. 

Luffy felt the very beginnings of his hands trembling, and he clutched at the railing. “She’s here, I’ve already agreed to her being here, so we’ll have to deal with it.” 

For a second Zoro didn’t know what his captain was talking about, but then he got it, and just nodded. “Aye, Sencho.” 

Luffy quirked his head so that one eye peaked up under the rim of his hat. He had guessed wrong? “Oi?” 

Zoro ran his fingers through his hair again, and he was having trouble keeping balance as Merry glided over the swells. 

“Oi!” Luffy pushed himself forward and threw his arms around his first mate before he sank to the deck. Zoro was shivering, his eyes rolling back in his head, and he was far – far too warm under Luffy’s fingers. “Zoro?” he whispered, giving his swordsman a little shake. “CHOPPER!” 

XXX

Luffy’s legs twitched and jumped as he sat on a stool beside Nami’s bed. The navigator had allowed Chopper to use her and Robin’s room as an infirmary on the grounds that Zoro wasn’t strong enough to climb down the mast ladder to the couch in the men’s quarters. Nami herself, along with Robin and Usopp, were cleaning up Zoro’s things, because they were sure that no matter how sick he was, when he got better he would have regretted that they be left out in the elements like that. 

“How is he, Chopper?” Luffy asked as the reindeer drew a vial of blood with a long needle that made the captain’s stomach churn. 

Chopper carried the vial over to Nami’s desk where he had his microscope and other medical paraphernalia spread out. He dropped some of Zoro’s blood onto a clear slide and peered through the microscope at it. “I don’t know yet, Luffy.” He admitted. 

Luffy hung his head, clasping his hands together. 

 

Usopp zipped closed Zoro’s katana maintenance kit after he finished repacking it with great care, remembering how Zoro had done on multiple occasions. He stowed it in the space under the stairwell that Zoro used for all his training supplies. Nami was behind the sniper, passing a broom over the deck. 

“Kenshi-san, he has never fallen ill before?” Robin asks. 

Usopp closed the door to the storage room, “No. He and Luffy, Sanji too, they’re like… well… they’re the Monster Trio. They don’t get sick, and they can take a beating from the worst and still get up and win.” 

Nami gave a hollow giggle, and the other two saw she wiped her face on her arm before turning around. “That’s right, he’s probably not even sick – just needs to drink some sake and, and … I donno, sleep for three or four days… and he’ll…” 

“Nami.” Usopp crossed the deck to pull the redhead against his shoulder. Nami hiccupped and gasped. 

“He’s gonna be okay, right?” she asks Usopp, throwing her arms around the sniper’s shoulders. “Ne?”

“Yea. He’s gonna be fine.” Usopp told her. But she kept crying, softly at first and then steadily harder. Sanji came around the corner to see if anyone was hungry, and Usopp waved him over. Nami shrank against the cook, sobbing into his dress shirt. “I’m gonna go check-in with Chopper.” Usopp tells Sanji, putting a comforting hand on Nami’s back briefly and giving Robin a shaky smile before leaving them. 

The sniper was halfway down the stairs when chopper came out onto the deck. “How is he?” Usopp asks the Zoan. 

Chopper offers a weak smile in response, but shakes his head. “I donno what’s wrong with him.” He admits sadly. “All his blood tests are normal, cheek swabs, urine, I even went so far as to check over every wound that’s still healing… There’s nothing, no infection, no… nothing. He doesn’t even have a fever.” 

“So – so he’s fine, just tired?” 

“He’s more than tired.” The reindeer said. “There’s tired, and then there’s incoherent… almost like a coma.” He stares back at the door he’s just left. “Luffy’s going to keep watching him. Maybe something will change. But, there’s nothing I can do…” 

XXX

Zoro opened his eyes, realizing that he’s blacked out again. What the hell? He wasn’t even doing anything. The first thing he notices is that he’s inside. The room is clean, bright and cheerful, he’s in a bed… he’s in the woman’s quarters? Grunting slightly he tries to sit up, but a hand comes down across his chest and pins him down. 

“Don’t get up.” 

Luffy’s face swims into view, and Zoro’s having a hard time keeping his eyes focused. “Oi, Sencho. Nami’s gonna kick my ass if she knows I’m in her bed.” 

“She offered.” Luffy tells his swordsman. “Chopper’s gonna figure out what’s wrong with Zoro.” 

“ ‘s nothing wrong with me.” Zoro smiles, or winces, taking Luffy’s hand. “Just need to get outside for some air.” His right hand reaches down to his hip, an instinctive motion for the swordsman, to check that his blades are at hand, but they’re missing. His eyes go wide. “Oi, Sencho – you guys took off my katana? Where are they?” 

Luffy nods to the wall beside the bed. Zoro’s three swords; Wado, Kitetsu, and Yubashiri, leaning up neatly against the wall – evenly spaced. Luffy did it himself, because he knows how much those swords mean to Zoro. 

The green haired pirate sighs. 

“Zoro needs to worry about himself instead of his katana for a little while.” Luffy admonishes. But Zoro doesn’t hear his captain; he’s staring at the wall where his katana are leaning. He can see a sort of shimmer, something a little less solid behind the blades. 

“Need to go outside for a bit.” Zoro pushes himself up from the bed, batting away Luffy’s attempt to stop him. He picks up and belts his swords, fingers lightly touching each one before he turns and heads out into the sunlight. 

Chopper and Usopp are standing by the railing, both wide eyed as Zoro stumbles out onto the deck, groping at the handrail for support. Luffy comes out from below deck a few seconds later. 

“Luffy –?” 

The rubber man doesn’t stop to explain, he just follows after his swordsman, catching him around the middle as he almost falls headfirst against the stairs. “Zoro needs to get back in bed!” Luffy tells him, but Zoro’s shaking his head. 

“Please, Sencho, just… just a…” his eyes slip back in his head again, but his fingers clamp down on the railing so that Luffy can’t drag him away. 

“Oi!” Luffy’s heart races as Zoro struggles to drag himself up to his usual training spot. “Quit pushing yourself like this!” 

Sanji and Nami are still at the stern, and see Zoro and Luffy as they come around the corner. The rubber man hovering just next to his swordsman, but Zoro doesn’t have his eyes open – it looks like he’s moving in his sleep, and not moving very well. 

“Oi, Mariomo, get your ass back in bed!” Sanji makes for Zoro’s wrist, but the swordsman dodges him. With his eyes still closed his feet make a backwards step, tip, and the blond cook falls onto his face as he overbalances trying to take hold of Zoro’s arm. 

“Zoro.” Nami watches her crewmate stumble onto the well-worn planks where he trains every day. Standing back from him as he draws Yubashiri from his black scabbard and holds the back of the blade steadily against his naked forearm. 

Luffy reaches out for Nami, guiding her to stand behind him, and puts one protective arm between her and his swordsman. But there is no danger that he can sense coming off him. He doesn’t open his eyes at all, doesn’t say a word, but as Luffy watches – unable to tear his eyes from his first mate, he can see Zoro’s brow is furrowed, his lips moving with rapid soundless words. Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, and Robin are now crowding the gap beside the stairs, trying to hear and see what’s happening. 

Zoro’s other hand draws Wado Ichimonji, her polished white edge reflecting sunlight across the deck, and the Swordsman bends slightly at the knees. Yubashiri spins between his fingers in a smooth motion as his arm drifts forward, Wado following closely in his wake – in a single motion, even as the elegant sea, Zoro’s teeth part and clap down on Wado’s hilt, the blade protruding out over his left shoulder, and with that hand now free – the swordsman’s arm themes down, and fingers wrap tenderly onto Kitetsu and the cursed blade sings as he’s drawn into the open air. 

Luffy follows Zoro’s delicate, yet beautifully strong movements as his swordsman steps and sweeps, unseals and seals, and drifts about the deck. Though Zoro is famous for his Santoryu swordsmanship, Luffy has rarely seen him use all three katana at one time. When he trains on the ship it is common to see the green haired swordsman wield one katana, sometimes two, but thinking back on it, Luffy cannot recall a single occasion that Zoro has been on the ship with all three swords drawn. In battle Zoro has used Santoryu – though only against very strong opponents, those he considers a challenge. His captain usually doesn’t get to see many of his fights, but when he does it is commonly a two katana combination. The sight of him now, with all three blades drawn, it is indescribable to the rubber man, and his eyes are drawn to every curve and undulation of the man’s body.

After a while, with no change in pace or condition of their swordsman in any way, Nami and the others retreat to other parts of the ship, leaving their captain to sit cross legged against the stairs to watch over their nakama. Luffy has often watched Zoro, and never tires of it. He can see forms of Zoro’s morning kata, and some advanced outlines of other meditations he’s preformed in the past, but the combination he is using today is very different than what his captain has ever observed. As he continues the slow melodic motions, Luffy finds himself completely entranced with the shape and movement of his swordsman’s form. When Sanji calls the captain for lunch, he doesn’t go. Nami brings him dinner, because he cannot bring himself to leave Zoro’s side. Night falls, and yet Zoro continues to dance. Chopper makes his way to Luffy’s side the next morning, and is amazed by the captain’s clear and attentive eyes, straight back, and assurance that he wants to stay and continue watching over his swordsman.

“How long do you think he can keep this up?” Sanji asks as he peers at the green haired pirate through the round porthole in the dining room. 

“It’s been a full day.” Chopper says, “twenty-four full hours. He hasn’t eaten, hasn’t said anything.” 

“Is he even awake?” Nami asks, “I mean, his eyes are closed, and he… he doesn’t seem to really be there.” 

Chopper shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of anything like this.” 

“I have.” Robin says, accepting a cup of coffee Sanji’s brought to her. 

Nami turns to look at their newest nakama. “You have? When? What happened?” 

“It’s only something I read, a long time ago in my teacher’s library.” Robin says, smiling, and when she spoke again her voice was soft as a poetic mantra. “On an island in the Great Sea, where swordsmen dance with the wind – and the rivers – and the mountains on high, the blades of severed souls cried at night, because they felt so alone. The swordsmen of the island heard the cries, of all the blades around the world, and they made a vow, that their tears would not go ignored. The swordsmen took to the sea, north, south, west, and east. They battled the kings of the sea, and scaled the three levels of the earth. The swords sang to them, as they were gathered by strong and knowing hands. And every swordsman who will hear them sing, or cry, or whisper secrets to be shared only between them, are decedents of those courageous Samurai.” 

Usopp smiled. “It’s a great story, Robin.” He sighed, “But, what does that have to do with Zoro?” 

“Have you seen his lips?” the dark woman asked, peering to the porthole. “They’ve been moving like that all this time. Who is he talking to? Not us, surely… maybe he’s talking to them, the swords he dances with.” 

XXX

Luffy hardly dared to blink, lest he misses a graceful movement, a pivotal curve, one note in the silent song that Zoro sang as he handled the three katana and his body as one being. So wrapped in his swordsman, Luffy didn’t hear the rain start to fall, or feel it as it slid down his straw hat and onto his back. Nothing existed but his beautiful swordsman, and all that mattered was that he remain at his side. Sanji brought Luffy dinner that night, as Zoro turned and bowed and swept kitetsu close to his body. Luffy gave the cook a brief word of thanks, breathlessly, without looking away from his swordsman. Sanji too, watched and felt the strange feeling emanating from Zoro and his swords. He remembered what Robin had said, the romantic adoration between the swordsmen and the katana with souls… He squeezed Luffy’s shoulder as he left the rubber man to watch his lover, because Sanji knew that’s why Luffy hadn’t moved in two days. That somehow he wanted to be close to that delicate feeling with the green haired pirate, even if he could not participate. 

As the second night fell, Luffy’s eyes twitched a little, but he simply rubbed them furiously before returning his gaze. The moonlight glittered on Wado’s delicate white blade, Kitetsu and Yubashiri chasing each other in tender turns as Zoro spun and spun and spun. Steady gestures as natural as breathing. Luffy drank deeply of the sight of his swordsman washed in the light of the moon, and as dawn loomed ever nearer and pink on the distant horizon, Luffy knew that the dance was coming to an end. The rubber man smiled wide, and pushed himself to his sandaled feet. 

Zoro made one sweeping, circling motion, with Yubashiri in the leading position, Kitetsu following behind until they both came together in the same instant and his arms stretched out on either side. He remained like that, just as the sun broke across the world and shone like fire on the bright blades, and Luffy could swear he heard them singing. Slowly, as the sun began to move further into the sky, Zoro returned his katana gently to their scabbards. First Yubashiri, then Sandai Kitetsu, and finally Wado Ichimonji. He drew in deep breaths, his muscles rippling for the controlled inhale and exhale of his body, and when he turned, Luffy was standing there waiting for him, smiling just as brightly as the dawn. 

“Welcome back.” Monkey D Luffy said; his eyes alight with knowing that Zoro was with him again. 

The swordsman walked forward, raising a hand to his captain’s face. Calloused fingers brushed the younger pirate’s cheek. “How long was I gone?” he asked. 

“Two days, almost three.” His captain says. Both men press together in the morning light, their arms wrapping, and hands searching one another.

Suddenly Zoro gathered his captain in his arms, his lips warm on Luffy’s neck, and he breathed him in. “I heard you.” He whispered. “And Wado told me you were waiting for me. She said you were watching over me.” 

Luffy felt warm tears on his cheek and shoulder, and he ran his fingers through Zoro’s short hair. “I’ll never leave Zoro’s side.” 

“Oh ho! Look who’s awake!” Sanji’s blond head came around the corner, Nami right behind him. 

Zoro turned his head, but didn’t let go of Luffy. “Get lost.” He gasped.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Nami asked concernedly, “You’ve really haven’t eaten for three days…” 

“It’s okay.” Luffy assured his navigator. “Just give us a bit?” 

Nami nodded, taking Sanji by the elbow and retreating back around to the kitchen. “Oi! You shitty Marimo, don’t you forget who’s watch shift you’re covering for the next week!” 

Zoro pressed his forehead to his captain’s, laughing. “Sorry to make you wait.” He said. 

“I didn’t mind.” Luffy told him, and he really, really meant it. “Zoro’s beautiful when he dances.” The swordsman blushes, and Luffy places a kiss on his lips. “Are you hungry?” he asks, drawing away slightly, eyes fixated on his lover’s face. 

“Not really.” Zoro admits, his hands roaming under his captain’s vest. 

“Because…” The captain kisses his swordsman again. “I’ve been watching Zoro dance…” and he kisses again. “…a long time, and now I kinda want to dance with him too…” 

“Here?” Zoro gasps, Luffy’s fingers already tugging at his hamaraki. “Right here?” 

“Right here.” Luffy breathes, teeth nipping at the tender skin between his shoulder and collar bone. 

The captain and his swordsman sank against the wall, tugging and tearing at each other’s clothing until they lay naked under the sun. Their skin pressed together and they kiss, deeply, passionately, ignoring the beating on the wall from the furious blond cook, or the giggling from navigator and dark woman sipping coffee at the table, or the shrieks about overstretched muscle tissue and the dangers of sever fatigue by the ship’s doctor. Usopp excused himself from the dining room for the men’s quarters, and he’d nap the rest of the day, away from the noise of his intertwined nakama. Later, Robin told her story about the samari to Zoro, and he spent a lot of time thinking about it. While nothing could explain how he had fallen into an unconscious dance with his three katana, he did not regret it, and he knew that if it happened again, his captain would be there to watch over him, would be there when he woke, and would be there to make love to him afterwards.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that this story was enjoyed, it is one of my favorites. Many more to follow. Comments are welcome!!


End file.
